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From Grammy nominations to indie bands to perform at outdoor music festivals

From Grammy nominations to indie bands to perform at outdoor music festivals

Posted September. 23, 2022 07:51,   

Updated September. 23, 2022 07:51

한국어

Various outdoor music festivals invite fans to enjoy music in the cool autumn breeze. Four festivals are scheduled in October: Jarasum International Jazz Festival, DMZ Peace Train Festival, Slow Life Slow Live, and Grand Mint Festival (GMF 2022). There will also be a variety of music genres introduced at the festival, from jazz to pop to indie.

The 19th Jarasum Festival, Korea’s largest jazz music festival, will be held in Gapyeong County, Gyeonggi Province, for three days from next Saturday. The Jarasum Festival, which started in 2004, has featured 1,200 teams of famous jazz musicians from 58 countries worldwide. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, it mobilized over 100,000 spectators each year and set itself as Asia's iconic jazz festival. Due to the pandemic, however, it was held online in 2020, and the number of visitors per day was limited to 2,000 last year.

As this year’s festivals are held normally in three years, the lineup of performers is more colorful than ever. Three-time Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Joy Alexander from Bali, Indonesia; Jazzmeia Horn, a jazz vocalist from Texas, the U.S., nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Vocal Album"; and Israeli jazz trumpeter Avishai Cohen, who signed a contract with ECM, will appear on stage. Among domestic musicians, Kim Hyun-cheol, who invigorated the Korean fusion jazz scene, will perform on stage.

Near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Cheorwon County, Gangwon Province on Saturday and Sunday next week, musicians from all over the world will gather to sing "peace" at a music festival called the DMZ Festival. The festival, which started in 2018, will be held in the former train station building of Gyeongwon Line and Woljeongri Station, located within the civilian control zone. The festival has demonstrated efforts to try new things, such as not having a headliner, the leading stage performer of the festival. Twenty-five teams will perform at the festival, including Leenalchi, Car, the Garden, Soeumbalgwang Band, and Lang Lee, who have a solid fandom.

At the 4th SlowLifeSlowLive 2022, which will be held from Oct.8 to Oct. 10 at Olympic Park 88 Lawn Field in Songpa-gu, Seoul, international pop stars are scheduled to come together on stage. British singer-songwriter Anne-Marie, who took the top spot on Korean music streaming sites with the song "2002," American singer Lauv, who collaborated with BTS, including in "Paris in the rain," "WHO," and "Make it right," etc. and, Australian singer Tones & I, who came out of nowhere in 2019 with the song "Dance Monkey," taking over the music charts in more than 30 countries, are scheduled to perform.

From Oct. 22 to Oct. 23 at the Olympic Park 88 Lawn Field, the GMF 2022 will feature domestic singer-songwriters who are very popular with the MZ generation (millennials + generation Z). Musicians participating at the GMF 2022 include 10cm, Bolbalgan4, Urban Zakapa, Jukjae, Jeong Seung-hwan, MeloMance, and Jeong Se-woon.


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com